Saar Plebiscite Territory

Issues of 1921

The Saar Plebiscite Territory, "Saargebiet" or "Saar
Occupation" in German, began issuing its own pictorial definitive
postage stamps during 1921.

At first the new postage stamps were denominated in
German Pfennig and Marks. During 1921, the French occupation government
changed the postage stamp denominations to Centimes and Francs, and
they would remain that way until 1935.

A new series of pictorial definitive postage stamps
was issued between February and April of 1921. They are all shown in
the images above. The new stamps were typographed on unwatermarked
paper and were Perforated 12 1/2. A scarce variety of the 20 Pf.
denomination was also perforated 10 1/2.

These
stamps tend to have rough to very rough perforations. The Michel
Catalog states that examples with clean-cut perforations all around are
worth about double the prices of the roughly perforated examples.

The stamps depict views of Saar, as follows:

05 Pf. - Old Mill, near Mettlach.

10 Pf. - Miner at work.

20 Pf. - Entrance to Reden Mine.

25 Pf. - Ships on the Saar River.

30 Pf. - Saar River, near Mettlach.

40 Pf. - Slag Pile at Völklingen.

50 Pf. - Signal Bridge at Saarbrücken.

60 Pf. - Church at Mettlach.

80 Pf. - "Old Bridge" at Saarbrücken.

01 Mk. - Cable Railway at Ferne.

01.25 Mk. - Colliery Shafthead.

02 Mk. - Saarbrücken City Hall.

03 Mk. - Factory at Mettlach.

05 Mk. - St. Ludwig's Cathedral, Saarbrücken.

10 Mk. - Presidential Residence, Saarbrücken.

25 Mk. - Burbach Steelworks, Dillingen.

Tête-bêche
pairs of the 5 Pf., 20 Pf. - 40 Pf., and 80 Pf. denominations exist.
These are from unbroken sheets that were not divided into panes. The
horizontal tête-bêche pairs are much higher priced than the vertical
pairs. There are also imperforates of all the stamps in this set,
though they were not regularly issued.

In early 1921, the German Mark was replaced by the French Franc as the currency of the Saar Plebiscite / Occupation Territory.

Between
April and July, 14 denominations from the previous set were surcharged
with new values in Centimes and Franks (Franken). They are all shown
in the images above. They have the same printing and perforation
characteristics as the original German Pfennig / Mark denomination
issues.

There are many collectible plate and
surcharge varieties on these stamps. For details, refer to the Michel
Deutschland Spezial Katalog volume I. As with the previous issue, most
of these surcharged stamps are also known imperforate.

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